Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

This book was a bestseller for many weeks. This book is a must-read for any American. It is inspiring. In 1993, Mortenson gets lost after attempting to climb the mountain, K2 in Pakistan. He ends up in a tiny rural village, Korphe where he meets an elderly man who nurses him back to health. Mortenson promises to come back and build a school when he sees that the Pakistani government hasn't been able to get to their village yet. It takes Mortenson about 3 years to get all of the funding and building materilas, but he manages to build a school for this village. He especially wants the young girls to have an opportunity at a secular education.

In no way does Mortenson push his Christian beliefs on the Muslim peoples in the rural regions of Pakistan. He believes that if we educate the girls it will build a strong foundation in these countries. Girls will bring their sons up to get a good education and not resort to the madrassas (the training schools for the Taliban and the like).

The book takes us through the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mortenson was kidnapped by the Taliban for 8 days in a rural area in Afghanistan. This was prior to 9/11 however it must have been a hair-raising experience that he will never forget.

Mortenson has founded the Central Asia Institute of which he runs and has built schools all over this region of the world. He has accomplished so much in 15 years it's unbelievable.

A must-read.

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner and The Shack by William P. Young

This was the sequel to "Good in Bed", Weiner's first book. I have to say I was a little disappointed by the ending. There's a twist that I wasn't expecting and I didn't feel like it furthered the plot along, however all in all I enjoyed where Weiner took Cannie and her character. It was fun to see Cannie as a mom and to see how she meanders through life with an almost 13 year old daughter.

The Shack was about a man, named Mackenzie having an experience finding God. He turns out to be a middle-aged large black lady named "Papa". Jesus is a Middle-Eastern young man who is a you-guessed-it carpenter. The Holy Spirit is an Asian woman, Sarayu who you can't really see or tell if she's hugging you. It was an easy read and very interesting point of view of the Trinity and Young's version of Christianity. I did feel like he was saying churches shouldn't be relevant in your relationship which to a certain degree may be true. Maybe Young was saying that it doesn't matter which church you go to which I do agree with. It was a good read--I would recommend it.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

I really liked this book even though what Briony did to her sister and family friend was despicable, it was an interesting setting (late 30s in Great Britain), very well written and kept me interested through the last page.

It's an intriguing name for the novel since in my opinion since Briony never really acquires atonement for what lies she has told. What a spiteful character.

Wow--I was not expecting the ending on this one. I had to read the last couple of pages again just to make sure I understood what the author said. I'm anxious to see how the movie is with Kiera Knightly and James McAvoy.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

This is a classic--really an insightful story about a poor family living in Brooklyn in the early 1900s. It was interesting to get a glimpse of how it must have been to scrounge up enough money to make it through the week. I loved Francie, the main character. She is 10 when the book begins and turns 17 at the end. So we walk with her through her childhood and her finishing grade school. She and her brother are the first in the family to graduate from grade school. She has to go to work when her father passes away, but eventually she finds her way back to school. Oh and meets a boy of course.

I strongly recommend reading this if you haven't.

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

This is the book club pick for November. This book was way better than I thought it was going to be. It was engaging, entertaining and really taught me a lot about the caste system in India. It's about a man named Balram who is a driver for a wealthy man, Mr. Arok (I think...can't remember exactly now). The format of the book is a lengthy letter to this Chinese diplomat. So he (Balram is narrorating the novel) tells you about the small village he grew up in and how he becomes a driver for this family. Well you know that he commits a murder right from the get-go, but it's how the story is woven together that I think is the neat part about this book.



I highly recommend this book. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and you should be able to find it at your library or local bookstore. Check out our bookclub blog for the future post of our discussion on this: http://lovestoeatlovestoread.blogspot.com

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

The 4th and last book in the Twilight series. See other posts for the basic gist of this series. I won't give away too much, but Bella ends up a vampire in this book just like she's always wanted. Of course there are some very big things that happen to her prior to that happening, but again I won't give away anything in case you are at all interested in reading the series. It was fun, entertaining and worth reading this series.

Digging to America by Ann Tyler

I listened to this book. I've never read anything by Tyler before but she is a popular contemporary fiction author. The story was about two families who adopted little girls from Korea. They meet at the airport when the girls are arriving from Korea. This starts their relationship with each other and over the years the two families grow to be very good friends. One family, the Yazdans are Iranian-American and the other is your typical caucasion family of European descent. You learn about some of the traditional customs in Iran, but mostly the book is about how the characters relate to each other. It was short and entertaining.